Most people in the United States travel by car and transport things by car. Drivers often pick up groceries or fast food and put them in the front passenger seat. Even in a gentle turn, items on the front seat often slide out of place and fall on the floor. The driver""s seat is not well suited to hold items being transported. Even if secured, some items such as bowls of soup can still be difficult to transport on a car seat.
Thai food has become popular in the United States. Thai food often comprises noodles smothered with delicious hot sauce along with meats such as chicken and beef. A meal may also include a soup. Thai food is a favorite take out item among college age students. The meal is usually packaged in a three section Styrofoam container having one indentation for the main dish section and two smaller indentations for the side dish sections. The container is usually not watertight. Tipping the container will cause the noodles to slosh and spill out. The soup is usually packaged in a Styrofoam container with a semi-translucent plastic lid. The semi-translucent plastic lid often has a small hole in the middle to equalize air pressure so that the lip of the lid can maintain a watertight seal with the edge of the container. Nonetheless, the soup may also spill if it were tipped over.
The roughly rectangular food container is usually placed in a thin plastic bag with the soup container resting upon the food container. Keeping such food in the front seat of a car creates a substantial risk that the contents would spill. Sudden stops, sudden acceleration, and sharp turns create a opportunities to spill one""s dinner.
Automobiles are often not filled to capacity. Often, one, two or three seats are empty and available for holding items. The empty seats allow supporting devices such as trays and hangers to be attached to the empty seats and take advantage of the available space.
Several patents describe various methods of attaching containers to car seats. Webster, U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,294 Feb. 9, 1999, presents a xe2x80x9cVehicle Utility Receptaclexe2x80x9d, which is a container suspended between two car seats. The container hangs between the front two car seats and can attach to the headrests of the two front car seats. Webster, U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,294 describes hooks attaching to the headrest. A receptacle has the advantage of being able to hold a large volume of articles. Unfortunately, a receptacle would not prevent food from sloshing around inside the food container.
Carpentier U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,659 discloses a seat back mounted tray holder that holds items and creates a small dining area. The articles adhere to the tray shelf and allow a passenger to have a table while eating or reading. Hurst U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,245 discloses a tray adapted for use on the inside of a trunk lid.
Often times, a driver needs to hold take out food. While driving around town, applicant Michael Liao conceived of a new device that the calls the Car Butler. The Car Butler can hold items while the car starts, stops and turns.